breve

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A symbol ( ˘ ) placed over a vowel to show that it has a short sound.
• noun A curved mark used to indicate a short or unstressed syllable of verse.
• noun Music A note equivalent to two whole notes.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In music: The third variety of note used by medieval musicians, having one half or one third the value or duration of a long note, or longa: its form was (.b) In modern notation, the longest note used, having double the duration of a semibreve.
• noun In law, a writ; a brief.
• noun In writing and printing, a mark (˘) used to indicate that the vowel over which it is placed is short.
• noun In prosody, a short syllable.
• noun [⟨ F. bref, fem, brève, short; from their short tails.] A name sometimes given to the ant-thrushes of the family Pittidæ. Also called brachyure. See Brachyurus, 2.
• To write down; describe.
• To enter in a book; book; brief.
• To tell; say.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Mus.) A note or character of time, equivalent to two semibreves or four minims. When dotted, it is equal to three semibreves. It was formerly of a square figure (as thus: � ), but is now made oval, with a line perpendicular to the staff on each of its sides; -- formerly much used for choir service.
• noun (Law) Any writ or precept under seal, issued out of any court.
• noun (Print.) A curved mark [˘] used commonly to indicate the short quantity of a vowel.
• noun (Zoöl.) The great ant thrush of Sumatra (Pitta gigas), which has a very short tail.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun orthography A semicircular diacritical mark: 〈˘〉 placed above a vowel.
• noun music, UK A double whole note.
• noun law Any writ or precept under seal, issued out of any court.
• noun printing A curved mark used commonly to indicate the short quantity of a vowel.
• noun zoology The great ant thrush of Sumatra (Pitta gigas), which has a very short tail.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a diacritical mark (U-shaped) placed over a vowel to indicate a short sound